How do I enter the characters in the picture?

We ask you to enter the letters and numbers in a picture when we need to make sure that a person, not an automated program, is using your Microsoft account. The characters are drawn so that it's possible for a person to recognize them, but very difficult for a program to. This helps us prevent automated programs from creating large numbers of accounts and sending spam.

To enter the characters

Look at the characters and enter what you see in the box.

-or-

To hear characters spoken, click Audio, click the audio icon, and then enter the characters you hear in the box.

To see or hear a different set of characters, click New.

Picture type

Tip

Picture type

Tip

Enter both lines of characters, beginning with the top line, no spaces.

The solution is C3K8SXHECXSF

Picture type

Tip

Enter the characters, ignoring the tear.

The solution is CFS38FYC

Picture type

Tip

Enter characters for both curved lines, no spaces.

The solution is 3YW32F8PFS6CDCHT

Notes

The letters aren't case-sensitive, so you can type them as either uppercase or lowercase.

Don't type spaces between the characters, even if you're entering characters for more than one picture.

If you type the characters incorrectly, click New to see or hear a new set of characters.